Ruth Pearl, who died July 20 at the age of 85, fought a thousand battles in her lifetime. She didn’t look like a warrior— barely five feet tall, rail thin with cropped brown hair and a soft voice that quavered, especially as she fought respiratory problems in later life. But when I first met her,…
Malkah Schulweis did not fit the mold of rebbetzin that prevailed in mid-century American synagogue life . Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, recognized as one of the great American rabbis of the 20th century, used to tell me that he never delivered a sermon, published an article, or embarked on an initiative, without it first passing…
The shortest job interview I ever had was with the most powerful woman in the world, Naomi B. Levine, who died today at age 98. Naomi was Senior Vice President for External Affairs at New York University, and I was a young rabbi hoping to serve as executive director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center…
Dr. Harold Bornstein, the Jewish doctor who cared for President Trump and his family has died. Bornstein rocketed to fame during Trump’s election campaign for signing a letter which claimed “unequivocally” that despite being the oldest president in American history, Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” In addition to being…
Max Bendich, a 29-year-old American soldier, arrived in Paris just after its liberation from Nazi occupation in 1944, determined to find whatever Jews were left in the city. He took the metro to the historically Jewish neighborhood of Le Marais and, wandering through eerily empty streets, stumbled upon an empty German barracks with people staring…
In a small apartment in Brooklyn Heights, no more than a room and a bit, Yitzhak Buxbaum worked, rested, taught and dined. He and his wife, Carole Forman, hosted friends and followers in that cluttered apartment, with manuscripts-in-progress scattered about and Hasidic paintings on the walls. Sitting there with him, as I did so many…
There are a few posts going around reminding folks that since Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Jewish, the proper thing to say about her passing is “May her memory be for a blessing.” That’s true, but I wanted to add a bit of perspective on what that means. Jewish tradition does not focus on the afterlife….
The way to mourn Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to embody her multitude of qualities, and take them forward into a certain struggle Ginsburg, who died at 87 on Friday, the eve of the Jewish New Year, did not come by her icon status quickly or easily. It was built, year after year, decision after decision,…
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
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